Sometimes I forget that there are good people in this world and they do in fact live in this city. Actually, I’m sure many good people live in this city but unfortunately they have become part of a “side” of the conflict and therefore all actions they do have consequences, no matter their intentions. A quick story just to make you all bitter, but then I will tell a nicer one.
A friend of mine, who self-identifies as religious, values this city unlike anyone I have ever known personally before. Her grandparents live here; she spent many years of her childhood here, and she really believes this city is as holy as everyone claims. We were walking on Ben Yehuda one night, about three weeks ago, and we saw a person spit on the ground as they walked by. She said that even though we were in the newer part of the city, nowhere near any Holy Sites, the fact that we were in Jerusalem itself prevented her from being able to spit on the ground. This changed in a matter of seconds. In a completely platonic way, she had wrapped her arm around mine while I had my hands in my pockets. We passed some boys with Kippas (Yarmulkes/head coverings/etc) on, and they started taunting us, calling us Lesbians and everything they could think of to be hurtful. First of all, they were blatantly wrong; we really are just friends. Second of all, it was very painful for us specifically, as two religious girls, to be made fun of by those within our own faith. Regardless of how we identify, it was very clear that for many within our religion, even after how much the Jews have gone through, there will always be ignorance and hate towards the gay community, whether it be fabricated or real. My friend proceeded to yell back at them in Hebrew, and then a few seconds later she spit on the ground. I think that night some of her love for Jerusalem dissipated.
Yet, tonight, I was walking up Ben Yehuda in the same area where I had been yelled at by teenage boys, and I saw a man walking around all the beggars, giving them cookies. At first I thought, “Why is he giving them cookies? That is so impractical.They should be getting protein.” But then I pondered it some more and decided that just like I enjoy a cookie, so should they be entitled to enjoy one. Even when there are so many problems in society, there will still be people who go around giving out cookies to those who could really use cheering up.
-Katy